Overview

Here are four texts considered as essential for studying the doctrine of the Tiantai Lotus school: The Infinite Meanings Sutra, The Sutra Expounded by the Buddha on Practice of the Way through Contemplation of the Bodhisattva All-embracing Goodness, The Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, and the Guide to the Tiantai Fourfold Teachings.

Includes "the most useful and reliable introduction to the complexities of Tiantai thought." ~ Masao Ichishima and David W. Chappell, Translators

Format:

Hardcover

9.5 x 6.6 x 1

$50.00

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Tiantai Lotus Texts

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About

These four illuminating texts provide tremendous value in understanding the Tiantai tradition. Taishō 276 and 276 are considered, with the Lotus Sutra itself, to constitute the "Three-fold Lotus Sutra." Taishō 1519 provides a commentary on the Lotus Sutra attributed to Vasubandhu himself. And Taishō 1931 is identified by its translators as "the most useful and reliable introduction to the complexities of Tiantai thought."

Taishō 276

Volume 8

The Infinite Meaning Sutra

The Sūtra of Infinite Meaning forms part of the so-called “Threefold Lotus Sūtra” and was composed as an introduction to the Lotus Sūtra itself (Taishō 262), with its contents based upon the essence of the latter. The term “Infinite Meaning” in the title derives from the idea that since man’s defiling elements are infinite in number, the number of teachings to be taught must also be infinite, resulting in the fact that the meanings of those teachings also become infinite.

SourceTranslated by Dharmāgatayaśas into the Chinese as Wuliangyi jing (無量義經). 1 fascicle.

Taishō 277

Volume 9

The Sutra Expounded by the Buddha on Practice of the Way through Contemplation of the Bodhisattva All-embracing Goodness

The Sūtra of Meditation on the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra is also known as The Sutra Expounded by the Buddha on Practice of the Way through Contemplation of the Bodhisattva of All-embracing Goodness. It forms the last part of the “Threefold Lotus Sūtra,” and takes up from where the last chapter of the Lotus Sūtra (The Encouragements of the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra; Skt.: Samantabhadrotsāhana-parivarta) ends. It is regarded as the conclusion to the Lotus Sūtra (Taishō 262). It recounts Śākyamuni's lesson, delivered in the last three months of his life, to meditate upon how the bodhisattva Samantabhadra practices and to repent of the sins committed by the six sensory organs.

Taishō 1519

Volume 25

The Commentary on the Lotus Sutra

The Commentary on the Lotus Sutra is a commentary (upadeśa) on the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-sūtra or Lotus Sūtra, emphasizing the ekayāna, the single buddha vehicle to enlightenment, and the tathāgatagarbha. Note that the text of the Lotus Sūtra upon which it is based differs from that translated into Chinese by Kumārajīva (Taishō 12), bearing instead a close resemblance to the Nepalese manuscripts of the sūtra.

Taishō 1931

Volume 46

A Guide to the Tiantai Fourfold Teachings

A Guide to the Tiantai Fourfold Teachings was written by the Korean monk Chegwan in the late tenth century as an introduction to the teachings of Tiantai Zhiyi, and is composed as an outline of the Tiantai fourfold teachings central to Zhiyi's thought. The work is also known as the Outline of the Four Teachings or the Record of Chegwan.